Secondary
English PGCE
What will our English PGCE offer you?
- Our English programme has proven very successful for the fifteen years that we have been training English teachers for secondary schools.
- Our current English PGCE is centred around a knowledge-based approach so will enable you to develop the core knowledge you need to confidently start your career teaching English Language and English Literature to students aged 11 to 16
- During your school placements there will be opportunities for you to observe and teach KS5 English which will be supported by the content of our English programme.
- We will also cover the transition in English teaching between Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3.
- As part of the PGCE element of this course you will write two assignments which are related to English.
- One assignment at Masters’ level is about the use of metacognition strategies in the teaching of English and the other Masters’ level assignment will have a classroom research- based focus in your subject.
What skills and knowledge will you learn?
- We will introduce you to the core and hinterland subject knowledge of English and to the importance of chronology.
- For example, teaching extracts of Chaucer, as it is an example of hinterland knowledge in English. We will demonstrate how to write schemes of work for English and encourage you to expand your students’ cultural capital by the types of texts that you choose to teach.
- Practical teaching and learning strategies will be shared for the explicit instruction of poetry, Shakespeare, fiction and non-fiction texts to a range of attaining students. You will learn about the importance of literacy and how you can support the development of literacy in your teaching career but we will also share with you how vital the development of talk for learning is in the English classroom.
- We will share evidence-based strategies, so you are not overcome by marking which has always been associated with being an English teacher.
How is the English PGCE structured and who is involved?
- Our English programme is structured around (i) formal sessions from the SCITT English Subject Tutors and (ii) the subject knowledge that you will receive from your school mentors who work alongside you in the classroom.
- In your placement school with the guidance and support from your mentors, you will develop the subject knowledge needed to teach successfully in your placement schools.
- In addition, you will have six English SCITT Subject Knowledge days led by two highly experienced English teachers who held a number of curriculum and leadership roles. They will deliver the six English Subject Knowledge days which are spread across the year.
- These are full of practical teaching strategies for you to be able to use in the classroom in any school. These Subject Knowledge days will be supplemented by reading tasks and a subject studies programme which you will complete during the year. We will also provide you with specific books for the English programme, and a laptop and a visualiser for the duration of your teacher training programme.
- You will also be assigned an English SCITT Tutor who will work closely with you. They will observe you teach at least four times during the year. They are all English specialists so their understanding of teaching the English curriculum is comprehensive. These visits by your English SCITT Tutor will be in addition to the school visits/ lessons observations that you will also receive from a SCITT Personal Tutor.
- All visits by any SCITT Tutor provide support and feedback that helps you in your development to become a successful trainee and newly qualified teacher. No lessons are graded, and all feedback is given in a personalised manner.
How will you be assessed?
- At the end of each term, there is an Assessment Point where you will be observed by your English SCITT Tutor then discussions will be had with your mentor and other colleagues in your placement school regarding your progress to that point.
- You must pass that Assessment Point in order to continue onto the next term of the programme, but the decision is not made on that one lesson observation.
- Your progress is assessed against the Teachers’ Standards across the term and the quality of your teaching; your completion of your portfolio; your engagement with the subject studies and professional studies programmes; your ability to act on feedback and your professionalism in schools with colleagues and students are all looked at as part of that Assessment Point.
- Our English PGCE Programme is designed so you can learn how to become a member of the teaching profession, not a teacher in one school.